Hi,

My sunbed creams are not selling very well.
I don't know why but my retail sales are really low.
They are being sold in the same way as they were in a differant salon in another area by the same person who used to sell the most.

Anyone who does very well retail products... can you give me any pointers?

thanks

The best way to retail is to talk about the products to the relevent clientelle...
You need to be able to tell them the benefit it will have for them, benefits sell products!
They won't be interested just to know that something is £2.00 cheaper than it was this time last year, they need to know WHY they need it and WHAT it will do for THEM...

Check out this article by Jeni... Retail, Tell don't Sell
hth's

Do you know the product inside out? I know with me I sell much better if I really understand how the product works and if I truely believe in the product.

When I started in the salon I'm in now,they had a facial range I had never heard of.I was given loads of literature,which I read but I found it very hard to retail as I hadn't had my training,didn't really understand the product and had never used it.

Now I use it myself,love the products,believe in them and have done the training I can sell it easily.

Try displaying it differently and moving your displays round weekly,make sure they are dusted or they can look like they have been there ages and that puts people off.

Advertise your product in the window or posters if you have them.

HTH,dont worry I'm sure things will pick up.

I just don't understand why what worked in one place a few weeks ago is not working here now we are running our own show.

We don't yet have a display cabinet but I think we will sort that out soon.
At the moment our cream are on our till counter/reception desk.
We are short of space and my GF wanted to put it up behind the till on the wall but I think people don't like standing there and browsing the products in front of the desk.

I think we need to put it on a wall, that's more in the part of the shop the customers are... maybe even next to the waiting chairs... it's hard cause we are so small inside the room.

What do you say to bring up the creams?
The products used in treatments can be talked about in the actual treatment so I can see how they are easy to sell but we have not sorted a retail range for treatment products yet.

So how do you bring up the sunbed creams?
How do you initiate the conversation?
I understand the tell not sell thing but... how to get into that convo is where it's a bit harder like breaking the sunbed cream ice so to speak.

All it took in the old shop was, "would you like a cream, it's good beacuse... blah blah blah"

Asking 'closed' questions is a non starter because it only requires a yes/no answer.

You need to ask 'open' questions... ie When was the last time you used XYZ cream? etc

Open questions are ones that begin with Who, Why, What, When and How... they all require more info than just a simple yes and/or no answer... they require more information... from their answer you can sidestep any closedown they give you by going into the benefits and what it will actually do for them.

Yes, I was in sales previously lol

I sometimes work in the sunbed shop when I'm not doing my own job.
The first thing I ask as soon as they get their tokens is "do you have a cream?" We store them at the shop under the counter with clients names on them. I tell them that it's best to use a cream to deepen and prolong the tan.
They usually ask me what type of cream I use and I tell them about the bronzers and the tingles and hot creams.
We do display them at the till in sachets and we offer a small tub of cream for £1 one is a bronzer the other a hot cream. That way they can try it out and if they like it they can order a bottle. We display the bottles on shelves behind the till and have quite a few posters advertising different creams.
hth

We sell sunbed lotions all day long......
The "would you like to use a cream question" is good, but if its a no it needs to be followed up with a " Oh why is that", any particular reason?"
Listen to their rasons, because it will give you a clue as to how to format your retail spiel......
Never lie about what the creams supposed to do, but focus on what they actually do.... anti ageing for some, moisturising and rehydrating for all, reducing tanning time and increasing tanning effect aso....
Get to know your creams inside out........ and they will fly off the shelf..
Even though I am the resident Nail Technician in our Tanning Shop, I also help out when it comes to the retail side of things.....and if I can sell them anybody can xxxx

Oh yes and another thing. Bear in mind that if you leave a body moisturiser in the cubicles as well as deodorant some people will use it as a tanning cream.

I have a friend who runs a tanning shop - she is excellent at selling creams - I believe because she is honest and knows her stuff.

ie she tries all the creams herself, asks the clients what they want from their cream, and then can say the reasons why they would or wouldnt like a particular cream...

Hope that makes sense.

What creams do you sell - are they the right ones for your clientelle? Different ones appeal to different people so it could be that you have a different type of person coming to this salon? xx

At my GF's old salon she sold over £400 worth a month (the other 4 girls there sold as well but never reached as many as Diane would sell).
At our own salon we have sold 2 a day sachets and 1 bottle other than that it's been 0 a day!!!

The selling is being done in the exact same way.
I can only put it down to them not being in a display cabinet and just on the counter.... I don't know.
Surely an area 10 mins down the road can not have totally differant cream usage trends.

We have only bought Austrailian Gold as that was by far the biggest seller in the old salon. Good product, well recognised... used to basically sell itself.
We already know and can explain the benifits of each.

We have not put any moisuriser in the cubicles for the reasons as Judy said... that was a tip from Sunquest.

The small tubs and some more "open" questions might be what we need to do.

Thanks for the pointers I have talked about them with Diane and obviously whats being done now isn't working even if it did before it doesn't matter so we will try a differant approach.

Do you have promotions... as in 1 hours plus a lotion( basic lotion).... 2 hours plus a say step 2 lotion aso.... that will get them used to using lotions and seeing that they actually do work......
Just a little thought babe xxx

we sell mainly Ausrailian Gold:
- cheek brown
- espresso
- wild
- browning fury
- accelerator
^^^ they sold well at another salon, same sort of people, same locality, same price, same person selling 'em...
we have some Protan as well I think we got with the sunbeds.

I personally use Swanky Girl Temptress Café *don't tell my mates at the boxing club but it stops my skin from splitting easily*

hi,
no never thought of that...
we have some courses, they are:
Standard : use at your leisure
£10 -36min (6min free)
£20 - 72min (12min free)
£30 - 108min (18min free)

and
Tan for a week :6 min a day for 7 days £10 (12 min free)